My grocery and other shopping savings in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota area. Projects around the house and beginning home school adventures.
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Triple Clicks

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

I meant to get a post out last week with recipes I was cooking for Christmas, but things got a little crazy (ha! imagine that!)... So you're getting two in one. :) Our Christmas dinner was really simple.. Ham, shrimp, mashed potatoes, rolls, broccoli and pie and cookies for dessert. Ham- I put it in the crock pot with 1/4 cup vinegar and about a cup of brown sugar on Christmas Eve. Then all I had to do was pop it in the cooker portion as breakfast was baking and it was done by lunch time.. About five hours on high, but it could have easily been on low since it was falling off the bone by lunch. Shrimp- tablespoon of coconut oil in the pan, coat shrimp with italian seasoning (equal parts of garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, oregano, parsley), put shrimp in pan and sprinkle lemon juice on them. Cook until white, turn, cook until white (about five minutes on each side). Mashed potatoes-peel, cut, boil, mash. I add salted butter and sour cream to ours because that's how we like it. Broccoli-frozen broccoli, boiled in pan while potatoes cook. About ten minutes. Rolls-I had bought crescent rolls on sale, but then my mother in law gave us some, so we used those insteadPumpkin pie-I just followed the directions on the can and made my own pie crust. Sugar Cookies-the kids and I made these Tuesday. I had planned on a cake, but Grace hasn't been feeling well so cookies were easier to do in parts. Just a basic sugar cookie recipe, with cream cheese frosting on the top. The kids got to decorate their own and then eat them of course! For breakfast we had cinnamon rolls (remember those Pillsbury ones I got on sale?), eggs and bacon.. not like the kids ate many of those... I ended up eating them as the morning progressed...because who needs breakfast when you have presents? Friday my husband was off so we made pigs in a blanket for lunch, Eva was the only one that ate them in the roll.. Adrianna and Andrew looked at me like I lost my mind. But Grace enjoyed the crescent roll they took off. Today for New Year's Eve, I'm doing ham bone soup and a recipe for little smokies hubby found on Facebook...As long as I can find it, going to have to go searching on my Facebook page. We'll be in bed by 10, I guarantee it. That's all that's going on here this week. Have a safe night tonight!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

It's been a month already, Ads are out for my shopping trip again. If you like shellfish, within the next month, now is your time to fill your craving. While it's still expensive, it's a little cheaper than the rest of the year. HyVee has special sales for crab, lobster and shrimp. Personally, we are taking advantage of the shrimp. Here's the ad links. Have fun! Wal-martSunshineFareway, Fareway Online, Fareway Special SaleHy-Vee

Personally, I've been a little disappointed with Fareway. For quite awhile after they opened, they had the cheapest meat prices around. But now they don't, I haven't shopped there in quite awhile. It's just not conducive to our budget. We have two special meals happening this coming month. Christmas and Eva's birthday. For Christmas I am planning ham, shrimp, potatoes, vegetables, pumpkin pie and cake (my Eva can't have cherries or pumpkins, so that's the alternative of choice this time). For Eva's birthday we're doing her favorite food, pizza, and the requested Thomas the train cake. I plan on finding a different train from Thomas to put on top since I made a Thomas cake for Andrew last year.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I saw a higher temperature today and actually believed it would happen. But it didn't. So now we are staying cold and despite us keeping out tomato sauce, we miss chili.. So we are going to try chili. Grace has been trying out finger foods, she much prefers this to baby puree-can't say as I blame her much. I scramble her an egg a day and she gets some handfuls of boiled, finely chopped mixed veggies, some fruit-mostly bananas for now, and cheerios. This child could survive off cheerios. I found some sausage in our freezer, so the kids and I had pizza today. Pizza dough1 cup warm water1 tablespoon dry active yeast2 1/2 cups flour2 tablespoons oil2 teaspoons saltBeat about 25 times until mixed then let rise for 5 minutes. Bake at 425 for 8 minutes, add your toppings, bake for 10 more minutes. Pizza Sauce15 ounce can of tomato sauce2 tablespoons garlic powder2 tablespoons onion powder1 tablespoon oregano Bring to a boil then simmer for at least 1/2 hour. The longer it simmers, the more flavor transfers to the tomato sauce. Chili4 pounds hamburger4 cans tomato sauce4 cans diced tomatoes4 cans chili beans or one bag pinto peans- make sure you prepare these according to instructions on the bag4 tablespoons chili powderBring to boil then simmer until you are ready to eat. Our favorite topping include, shredded cheddar cheese, tabasco or louisiana hot sauce, saltines and rice. My husband likes rice under his chili, then mixes that, cheese and tabasco all together and dips with the crackers. The kids and i just do cheese and crackers, although the tabasco does add a nice flavor. Stay warm!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Well, I told you I was going to set a reminder on my phone to do a blog post, and it worked! Imagine that. :) There are a lot of things going on here lately, Andrew is recognizing letters and numbers everywhere and can tell us what they are and some of them he can tell us what sounds they make. I guess you could say I'm on the unschooling bandwagon, which works just fine until I have to register with the state in a few years as homeschooler. My understanding of unschooling is that you teach through life experiences, cooking is math, bible study is reading, reading comp, math, histoy (heck, you could homeschool with JUST the Bible and get A LOT out of it). A must for me to stay awake is coffee. I love my coffee-just ask anybody, coffee and me are buds (think of Lorelai from Gilmore Girls-yep, that's me!). But sometimes, just plain black coffee gets a little boring.. So I go to my cupboard and flavor it up a bit. My favorite concoction this week has been Chocolate Caramel Coffee. Squirt of Chocolate Syrup, Squirt of Caramel Syrup, Tablespoon of powder creamer. Fill the coffee cup and stir, top with whipped topping and more caramel if you have it around. When I was at my mom's my sister joined forces and craft supplies and made our babes barettes and hair ribbons. That was fun. :) Now I have something to keep Grace's hair out of her face and I can make more when I get more ribbon if I want. I'm hoping she'll tolerate it when she's two instead of a wrestling match just to get it brushed like I have now with Eva. Thanks to Pinterest, we got some good ideas and instructions on how to do it.

My finished barettes.

Here's my Pinterest board that has most of the instructions I used. My sister's girl doesn't have any hair, so she mostly crafted flowers from the ribbon to attach to elastic bands.